I got a lot of requests from people to start raising money for the Virginia state elections. Both the Senate and House are barely Republican (one seat majorities in both). Let’s raise some money for Democrats in Virginia (the fund here is split equally between the House and Senate Democratic caucuses, both of which have announced aggressive campaigns to flip their respective chambers).
I’ll be on the radio today at 1 pm on this program discussing the 2020 presidential election.
I thought of a topic, sort of related to the post title here (Exile on Main Street is my all-time favorite record but had only one radio hit on it): what are some examples of great bands whose biggest radio hits were awful? I thought of this because someone mentioned that Elvis Costello’s biggest hits were Alison and Veronica, and Veronica is in my opinion one of Elvis’s very worst songs. Another example is Neil Young with Heart of Gold (I’m not a huge Neil Young fan but he wrote some great songs and that’s not one of them). And another is Tom Waits, who didn’t have any real radio hits, but has a few songs they will play on smaller radio stations and one of them is “Jersey Girl”, which I hate.
Update. And here’s a Benny pic.
Gin & Tonic
Back in the pre-Sirius days, having to drive across the Thruway reasonably often, I loved WXXI. Pretty good signal and interesting classical programming. Even sent them some money once in a while.
Jerzy Russian
It will be interesting to see how the radio host pronounces your name (Doug Factorial, a clicking noise after “Doug”, or DOUG with a lot of emphasis).
hueyplong
I have been ear wormed.
Coulda been much worse.
rikyrah
Where’s the baby picture? :)
Doug!
@hueyplong:
One of my favorite songs of all time.
schrodingers_cat
@Jerzy Russian: 1, 2, 3, ….Doug-1, Doug.
Another Scott
Thank you!
Donated.
Cheers,
Scott.
ThresherK
I have a post in moderation with four links. Can someone free it? Thanx.
Betty Cracker
Awwww, Benny is adorbs!
Amir Khalid
I rather like Springsteen’s epic live versions of Jersey Girl.
randy khan
It’s worth noting that the Supreme Court’s decision not to review the court-supervised redo of the Virginia House of Delegates map is likely to have a significant positive effect on the elections, as that chamber had been hideously gerrymandered. This is a chance not just to get a majority, but to get a decent margin there as well.
The Senate districts were unaffected, but the Senate is right at the tipping point, and there are really good prospects there. There’s an excellent change to get a trifecta before the 2020 Census redistricting.
JR
Bob Marley and the Wailers
I think “I Shot the Sheriff” is one of his/their worst songs and yet it is arguably their most popular thanks to Eric Clapton.
Of their international hits, “Stir it Up” is their best but I like some of their lesser known songs even more — Small Axe, High Tide or Low Tide, Time Will Tell, etc.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
As a Springsteen fan, I would cheerfully never hear what I think (?) are his biggest radio hits– Dancing in the Dark, Born in the USA and Glory Days– ever again
ThresherK
@ThresherK: Semisonic’s “Closing Time” is the one song everyone knows from the radio. In the two albums they made then, it’s distinctly mid-tier and you’ll be rewarded by venturing into other tracks from “Great Divide” and “Feeling Strangely Fine”.
cain
My friend’s cat ‘Bean’ was put to sleep because the cyst was actually a cancerous mass and inoperable. Mom and Dad had to make the terrible choice to let Bean go. :(
Also wish me luck, I have an in person interview with Microsoft tomorrow. Hopefully, this will end (for now) the long chain of hiring and firing that has been happening for the past 3 years! It’s a pretty powerful position and will help lead Microsoft greater into open source territory. :D
on topic – can’t wait to flip Virginia.. I can see that the country is finally sick of all the Republican bullshit that is going on out there.
cain
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I really hate “Glory Days”, high school was never my glory days. Hell I think the last ten years in my 40s are my glory days. I’m better looking, more confident, and I have had 3 cats.
schrodingers_cat
Best of luck!
Van Buren
@JR: I just listened to Legend on the drive over to my cardiologist; it worked; my BP is 121/83.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@cain: it’s a very sad song, full of (early) middle-aged disappointment and self-medication (we went back inside, sat down, had a few drinks… sometimes on a Friday, I’ll stop by, have a few drinks, after she put her kids to bed… think I’m going down to the Well tonight and I’m gonna drink till I get my fill), and the gulf between that and the jaunty, upbeat music is interesting, but I can’t stand that jaunty, upbeat music
Dorothy A. Winsor
Is that the baby? OMG, how did this happen?
Amir Khalid
I am deeply unimpressed by Coldplay’s Yellow. By comparison, their other songs leave me only mildly unimpressed.
DCrefugee
Pink Floyd – “Money” (not awful, but in stark contrast to the rest of the DSOTM album)
Doobie Brothers – “Black Water” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlUnvWOjsIM)
Amir Khalid
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Well, there’s a mother and a father, and they love each other very much …
Mnemosyne
I like “Veronica.” I will grant you that it’s not even the best song on that album — for that, I would lean to either “Deep Dark Truthful Mirror” or “God’s Comic.”
Jamey
The Clash’s biggest radio chart-toppers were utter shite: Rock the Casbah and Should I Stay.
RandomMonster
Since you had to pick on Young’s “Heart of Gold”, you leave me no choice but to call “Born in the U.S.A.” mediocre crap.
cain
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
You’ll hate the Pogues then. :-) Shane sounds drunk most of the time, and it’s always some depressing lyrics, but the music is super upbeat. It is a sad song. I can see where it applies to some people, maybe people who I went to high school with and are still in my hometown in Indiana.
narya
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The thing about “Glory Days” that’s sorta interesting is that the narrator is lamenting others for whom high school was the last of their glory days. Also: John Sayles directed the video, IIRC, and I love me some John Sayles. Also also too, the whole album makes more emotional sense when you realize that about half of it was written at the same time, and in some ways as part of, “Nebraska.” I always liked the slowed-down versions of the title song–brought it home.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@cain: Well, the Pogues were never so overplayed that I’m still sick of their songs 35 years later like with those three– it was only a couple years ago that I could listen to Freebird again after the whole Southern Rock explosion of the late 70s (wasn’t it?), I was never sick of the Allman Brothers.
I actually have GD on my phone and sometimes don’t skip through it. I deleted BITUSA and DITD
TomatoQueen
Oh dearie me. Speaking from Alexandria, Virginia, the cradle of the Civil War (that’s all you know about it, Mr Simon), I have stopped wearing shoes cos the scraping of them gets so wearisome. Maybe there will be some glorious evening without the long shadow of Robt E Lee and his multifarious relatives lurking all over town, and the statues (one in particular, thanks United Daughters of the God-damned for all Eternity Confederacy) removed, and the street Taney Avenue renamed to somebody like Copernicus (to say nothing of the TWO Early Streets, who can be Bayard and Booker);for now, however, anybody who tells you this is a blue state is a liar and a miscreant, and we must keep our eyes on the prize and our hand to the plow, hold on.
Another Scott
Kinda relatedly, LOLGOP thread:
Impeachment hearings are coming, but not quickly enough for many.
But he’s right that our team needs to have a quick, effective response for all of Donnie’s claims that everyone’s a liar and a thief and a crook except him.
Cheers,
Scott.
janeform
Money for Nothing – Dire Straits
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@janeform: I don’t hate it, but definitely not among their stronger tracks
Amir Khalid
@RandomMonster:
The Vietnam veteran’s pain and bewilderment at being excluded in his own country is very vivid to me. I can never think of Born In The U.S.A. as mediocre crap. If there is any cause for outrage about the song, it is surely the way it has been trivialised into a Fourth of July singalong for the mindlessly “patriotic”.
RandomMonster
@Amir Khalid: I can respect the theme; doesn’t mean the song lives up to it.
rikyrah
Benny is living his best life :)
Amir Khalid
@RandomMonster:
For me, the song does live up to its theme. I guess your mileage varies.
Carol
Thanks for the Benny pic. It’s a real spirit lifter.
rikyrah
@cain:
Sorry for your loss.
And, positive thoughts for the interview.
Mo MacArbie
I don’t hate it, but I like so many better than that one-hit wonder, Jane’s Addiction’s “Been Caught Stealing”. I hate “No Rain” but am often told I really gotta check out Blind Melon’s second album. Never liked “Creep”, and I feel I’m in good company there.
Barney
‘Alison’ didn’t chart anywhere; ‘Veronica’ didn’t make it into the top 30 in the UK, while 13 other singles of his did (I’ve never even heard of it). Maybe this just indicates the poor taste of US radio stations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Costello_discography#Singles
blackcatsrule
@cain: Please pass on sincere condolences from an absolute stranger on the internet. It is so hard and never gets easier.
Hiram Goldberg
Touch of Gray and Shakedown Street are terrible Grateful Dead tunes, Truckin’ holds up though there are a lot of better Dead tunes.
Scamp Dog
@Jamey: I bought London Calling after hearing Train in Vain on the radio; it’s not that good of a Clash song, but it gets a pass because it’s the song that introduced me to the band. And come on, Should I Stay isn’t that bad of a song!
Scamp Dog
@cain: Sorry to hear about your friend’s cat–it sounds like you’re somebody who knows & loves that pet.
And best of luck with the interview!
Nancy
@Amir Khalid: I always heard lyrics no matter how infectious the beat so I was amazed by those who’d hear “Born in the USA” as a rah-rah usa song. And some of the refrain sounded like howls of pain to me.
Nancy
DougJ–
As a local–and one-time meet up in Rochester participant–I will be hearing your Connections interview after the fact on the website. The host, Evan Dawson, is thoughtful and willing to seek out interesting people to present a range of ideas. He’s also not afraid to challenge uninformed or bigoted callers. He’s polite but quietly forceful. Glad you’ll have had that chance to present your thoughts on a forum that doesn’t do the both-sides shuffle.